British farmers turn out in London as inheritance-tax row widens
Thousands of farmers gathered around Parliament Square in London on the event date to protest changes to inheritance tax that the government says will affect the wealthiest farms, but that farming groups say could force family businesses to sell land, livestock, or equipment. The dispute has become one of the sharpest political rows to emerge from the new budget, with ministers arguing that most farms will remain unaffected and critics warning that the policy misunderstands how farm businesses actually work.
The measures announced in the budget will change the way agricultural assets are treated from April 2026. Under the new rules, inherited agricultural assets above £1 million will face a 20% tax rate. The government has said that, once allowances are taken into account, a married couple or civil partners may be able to pass on a farm worth as much as £3 million before inheritance tax is due. Officials have also argued that the change will affect about 500 estates a year.
Farmers who joined the protest described a different reality. They argued that land values can be high while cash flow is tight, meaning a tax bill based on asset value could arrive even when a business is not making enough profit to absorb it. One farmer told Al Jazeera that farming families are not trying to dodge tax, but cannot pay inheritance tax out of profits they do not make. Another protester, Emma Robinson, said her family had worked the same farm for generations and feared the policy would take it out of her hands.
The BBC reported that around 1,800 National Farmers' Union members gathered near Parliament as part of a mass lobby of MPs. NFU president Tom Bradshaw used blunt language to describe the policy, calling the changes destructive and saying the government had broken trust with farmers. Jeremy Clarkson, who also joined the demonstration, called the measure a rushed decision and urged ministers to think again.
Ministers have defended the policy as a targeted way to raise revenue without reshaping ordinary family farms. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the vast majority of farms would not be affected and said the government was investing in wider rural services, including hospitals, schools and housing. But the scale of the protest suggested the dispute is unlikely to fade quickly. Farming groups say the reform has raised not just tax questions but wider fears about the long-term future of family-owned agriculture.
For now, both sides are standing their ground. Farmers are warning that the policy could force difficult choices over succession and land sales. The government is insisting that the number affected is small and that the tax will fall mainly on the most valuable estates. The clash has turned a technical budget measure into a political test of how far ministers are prepared to go in reshaping long-held farm tax rules.
